
Class f^ SS 
Book__5_SZ. 



. ^ //=^-^-i^T 



MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA AND TENNESSEE. 



(i 



Feom thb AincEioAK Journal of Science and Arts, Vor. XXVII, March, 1859. 

MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAEOIINA AND TENNESSEE. 

By S", B; BUCKLEY. '" - 



TVow r^ 1 '"™™'' ^^1835 Prof. R Mitcliell of Chapel Hill University, 
No th Carolina, measured the highest point of the Black Mountain in thi 
State, and announced its height to be G41G feet. His stationary barome- 
ter was at Morganton, which he estimated to be 968 feet above the sea 
Ihe late railroad surveys show that the Morganton depot is 1169 feet hio^h • 
Biak.ng the place where Dr. Mitchell's stationary barometer hung, 1200 
feet above the leve of the sea. E.ence the height of Mount Mitchell- 

BmT. T^-"^ ^^" •'r"^'^ ^T S'^"^ '' ^he highest part of he 
131acl Mountain-accord.ng to tho indications given by Prof. Mitchell's 
barometer m 1835 is 6708 feet. This measurement of 1835 was fi s 
pubhshed in the Raleigh Regist. ■, and again in Silliman's Jounial i 
1839, with some additional remr.ks by Dr. M., in which he alludes to 
.t.rfl Wrent hei;^ht of th. mountains in Haywood county, and 
also to the highest in the Great ^ moky Range. The Highland Messen- 
ger, puW.shed^ at Ashe, ille, near tl e Black Mo'untain, in 1 840 when allud- 
ing toDr.M.s measurement of ^t,says: "we are perfectly willing to 
concede the name of Mount Mitchell to that particula!- point of the Bkck 
Mountain which Prof. Mitchell, after a degree of labor and expense 
^■h,ch none other than a genuine devotee of science would have incurred' 
demonstrated to be the most elevated point of measured land east of the 
Rocky Mountains. We say measured land, because we have long be- 
lieved, and still beheye that there is one, if not two points, in the lame 
range of mountains higher than that measured by Prof Mitchell from 
for y to s.xty mHes v^st of the Black Mountains^" This m an 

ed.tona by the Rev. D. R. McKa^ly, D.D., now editor of the ChStian 
ttTs'' ' V /• iT";?' ^'''T\ '^^'.^'""' ^"^^^^"^ ^t' ^''^'''^ bis hic;her 

the bmoky Range about sixty miles nearly west of the Black Mountains. 
in the Iransactiono of the Smithsonian Institution for 1855, is Mr 
Clingmans account of the Black Mountain, the highest point of which 
he estimates to be 6941 feet, which is 233 fee? higher than Prof 
Mitchell's corrected height of the . ,u.e point. Prof. Tunier the engineer 
lias smce found its height to be GVll feet, and in 1856 Prof. Guyotbv a 
senes o_t barometrical observatior i, ascertained it to be 6701 feet hiih 
mI!!]" i!'t ^'^^•^'^"cy l^etv.3en the measurements of Professors 

Mitchell, Turner and Guyot, and 1 ence there can be little doubt that Mr 
Clingmans estimated height of I'.e Black Mountain, as first given in 
the bmiths«.i>ian Iransactions, and now in Colton's new atlas of the 
Wor Id, and ako in Lippmcott's G-^etteer, is at least 230 feet above its 
true height. 

Prof Mitchell in 1838 and 184-^ again visited the Carolina mountains 
at wiiicJi time his stationary baron eter was at Asheville. The following 
measurements, then made, are tak'.n from a letter of his, published in an 
Asheville newspaper. 



r \ 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



287 



Above tho sea. 

Chimney Top 4433 feet, 

" " above Zachary's, 1109 " 

Burnsville 2763 " 

Top of Black Mountain, 6772 • " 

Morganton, 1081 " 

Table Rock 3584 " 

Grandfather, 6719 " 

Roane, 6187 "" 



Above the soa. 

"AsheTilIe, 2200 feet. 

French Broad river at Asheville, 1977 

Lower Ford of Pigeon, 2475 

Waynesville, 2722 

Head of Scott's Creek, 3240 

Tuckaseige Ford 1927 

Gully Whee Gap 3897 

Blue Ridge head of Tuckaseige, 3795 

Col. Zachary's Cashiers valley, 3324 

It should be remembered that these measurements were also made pre- 
vious to the railroad surveys, by which it is now known that the height 
of Asheville near the court house is 2260 feet. 

For the convenience of future observers we give below, Prof. Guyot's 
measurements in 1856, in and around the Black Mountains, the three last 
excepted. 

Above the sea.' Above the sea. 

JesseStepps.Lower Mountain ^ (,^^^ ^^^^ Bowlen's Pyramid at north / g_.g , , 



house, Swaninoa valley,. 



ain ) 2-; 



70 feet 



end of the Black, J 

Wm. Patten's Mt. House 6248 

Mt. Mitchell, " highest," 6701 

Guyot's Peak 6661 

Flairy Bear, 6597 

Junction of Cattail Fork and ) oo<>< 

Caney river, )" 

Burnsville court house square, ) p„, _ 

near Penland's Hotel J " 

Mount Pisgah, 5760 

Roane Mt., 6318 

Grandfather, measured in 1858, 5897 



Terminus of carriage road up ) 

Black Mt. to Wm. Patton's [• 3244 

Mt. House ) 

Potatoe Top, 6389 

Mitchell's Peak, 6577 

Mount Gibbes, 65S6 

" Haulback, 6401 

Sandoz Peak 6612 

Cattail Peak 6595 

Rocky Trail Peak, 6486 

Deer Mountain, 6216 

Long Ridge Middle Peak, 6253 

Prof. Guyot remarks in a letter to us containing' his measurements in 
1856, that "these heights may be modified by a few feet in" his "final 
publication, the point of base not boing identified within three feet," 

The following are the heights of some moiratiins and places in North 
Carolina and Tennessee, south and west of Asheville, which were meas- 
ured by us with two of Green's standard barometers during the months 
of September and October in 1858. Prof, J, LeConte of Columbia, S. C, 
observed the stationary barometer rt Waynesville, N. C, for the measure- 
ment of most of the highest Smoky Mountains, but being called away by 
the duties of his professorship, the stationary barometer was removed to 
Col, Cathey's, at the Forks of Pigec u, Haywood Co., N, C, and placed in 
charge of Miss S. Cathey. We also received material assistance from Mr. 
T, J, Lenoir and Mr. Turner Cathey, during our mountain excursions. 

Above the soe | Above the sea. 
"Waynesville, 281 5 feet Lenoir's Bald Mt 6040 feet. 



Col. Cathey's, 2750 

Platt'8 Peak, 6196 

Jones' " 6337 

Amos Piatt's Balsam, 6406 

Cold Mountain, 6105 

Shining Rock 6063 

Father Old-Field, 6116 

Hvman's Peak, 6095 

Cathey's " 6240 

"Wilson's Balsam, 6270 

Mount Hargrove, 6156 

Devil's Court House 6067 



Mount Hardy 6257 

Mount Lenoir, 6413 

N. Peak of Mt. Lenoir, 6399 

Sarah's MoT-.ntain, 5993 

(Mount Cathey, 5742 

Starling ., 64 56 

Emmons, 6465 

[Flat Creek Balsam 6087 

I Whiteside '. . , 6076 

[Top of Whiteside to base of 

precipice, 
[Mount McDowell '5100 



1 1510 



288 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 

The following points are in the Smoky Mountains, and many of them 
are on the State line, between North Carolina and Tennessee. 

E. P. Hopkins's house, 1995 feet. | White Rock Mountain, 6002 feci 

Tills last is a misnomer of the hunters, being composed of a dark gneiss 
and mica slate, covered in many places with white lichens, the most 
abundant of which are Cladonia rangiferina, and Cladonia Caroliuiana. 

Mount Safibrd, 6296 feet. Old Field Knob, 6220 feet 

" Henry, 6425 

•• Guyot 6734 

" Floyd, 6073 

" Mingus, 5779 

Summit of Road Gap near ) -„, . 

the Alum Cave p"*^* 

Right Hand Gap, 5162 

Mount Ocona, 5978 



Peck's Peak 6338 

Safford's Peak 6559 

Mount LeConte 6670 

Mount Buckley 6755 

Curtis' Peak 6511 

Mount Collins 6241 

Robert Collins House, 2535 



It is proper to state that most of these heights are the result of a sin- 
gle barometrical observation, and hence they will probably be modified 
somewhat by future observers. Observations were made on the two 
highest at two different visits, and a mean result between the two calcu- 
lations is given as the height of Mount Buckley, while the height of 
Mount Guyot is given as ascertained by the first visit, it being made in a 
more settled state of the weather. The second observation at its summit 
gave its height as 6&94 feet. It is well known to those conversant with 
the barometrical measurement of heights, that accuracy requires a series 
of observations, and it was out of our power to make them at so many 
points during the time to which we were limited by the lateness of the 
season. 

Fortunately the months of September and October were uncommonly 
dry, which enabled us to continue exploring nearly the entire time. The 
toil was great, and the difficulties to be encountered can only be imagined 
by those who have ascended the steeps of the unfrequented Southern 
Alleghanies, through laurel thickets (Rhododendrons and Kalmia,) and 
multitudes of the prickly locust, (Robinia hispida,) which has a penchant 
for ^ratching the face and hands, tearing the clothes, and occasionally 
the skin beneath. We found the Viburnum lantanoides or hobble-bush 
with its straggling branches, very troublesome on the Smoky Mountains. 
Notwithstanding all this we have the mountains and their glorious 
scenery. We encamped eleven nights on their tops ; and saw that the 
stars were brighter, and the planets apparently larger than when seen 
from the valleys below. Then also the wonderful comet (Donati's) made 
the southwest luminous with its bright head and mysterious tail, soon 
after the setting sun. 

The scenery of these mountains, especially those in the Smoky Range, 
abounds in precipices and deep chasms, surpassing any thing we remem- 
ber to have seen among the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The 
spectator on the highest Smoky Peaks can enjoy a more varied view than 
from any other points in the Southern Alleghanies. East Tennessee with 
its towns, rivers, and the Cumberland mountains in the distance, is spread 
beneath at the west. On the north can be seen the Clinch mountains 
extending into Kentucky. At the northeast, east, and southeast, in full 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 289 

view are all the higher mountains of North Carolina, and at the south the 
smaller ones of Northern Georgia. Such prospects |;a?/ the explorer for 
his toil ; their remembrance is alwaj's sweet. The country on the Ten- 
nessee side is much lower than in South Carolina, and the descent of the 
Smoky mountains is generally more abrupt and precipitous into the 
former State, than into the latter. 

The highest Smoky mountains are near the head waters of the Ocona- 
luftu and Little Pigeon rivers, being accessible from Tennessee via 
Sevierville, and up the Little Pigeon to a Mr. Hawkins', who lives eight 
miles from the top of the gap road, which is near the alum cave ; and 
from North Carolina by the road up the Ocona-luftu to Mr. Collins's 
house, seven miles from the top of the afore-named gap-road. 

The geology of the mountains south and west of Asheville has a good 
deal of sameness, they being composed of crystalliQe rocks, with the 
exception of a narrow strip, extending southwest along the Unaka or 
Smoky mountains which belongs to the taconic system of Emmons. 
The taconic rocks here consist of dark colored shales in which we do not 
remember to have seen any organic remains. The strata of these rocks 
are in many places nearly and often quite vertical. They are well ex- 
posed along the Middle or Straight Fork of the Ravensfork in descending 
from Mount Guyot to the Ocona-luftu. They also occur at the summit 
of the gap-road near Mount Mingus, and extend two or three miles down 
the road into North Carolina. The chief rocks of the Haywood moun- 
tains are granite, gneiss and mica slate, excepting a small portion near 
the Smoky Range, where the taconic rocks are again ibund. The 
Shining-Rock mountain about eleven miles south of the Forks of the 
Pigeon is entirely of white or milky quartz, and is probably the largest 
mass of that rock at any one point in the Alleghanies. It has a fine 
appearance in the distance and is deservedly becoming quite a place of 
resort. We believe that Haywood and Jackson counties, N. C., have 
not as yet afforded any paying mines to those who have been at the 
expense of working them, but it must be admitted that they have been 
little explored for that purpose. Prof. Emmons the State Geologist, con- 
templates a survey of those mountains next summer, and we suspect that 
he will destroy the golden dreams of a few who build castles upon unde- 
veloped mineral wealth. 

This region has long been a favorite place of resort for the botanist. 
Here there is a strange mixture of northern and southern species of plants, 
while there are quite a number which have been found in no other section 
of the world. In the months of May and June when, the Kalmia, Rhodo- 
dendrons and Azaleas are in bloom, these mountains and valleys present 
an array of floral beauty which is indigenous to no other section of the 
United States. The much vaunted western prairies with their intermina- 
ble sameness, are by no means as beautiful. The Rhododendron Cataw- 
biense, Kalmia latifolia and Azalea calendulacea, are not excelled by 
any native floral beauties ; the two last abound in nearly every section of 
these mountains, but the first rarely descends into the valleys. Besides 
these the Rhododendron maximum, (laurel,) Rhododendron punctatum, 
Azalea arborescens and nudiflora, Oxydendrum arboreum, Chionanthus 
Virgiuica, Halesia tetraptera, Clethra acuminata, Kobinia hispida and 



290 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 

viscosa, Stuartia pentagyna, Liriodendron tiilipifera, Magnolia acuminata, 
Umbrella, and Fraseri, grow there more or less abundantly, and they are 
all ranked as among the most ornamental trees and shrubs of the At- 
lantic States. The Pyrus Coronasia is very common south of the French 
Broad river ; Catalpa occurs in several places along the same river and 
in the mountain valleys near the Warm Springs ; Cladastris, grows at 
Paint Rock, Tenn., which is near the Warm Springs. Most of the high- 
est mountain tops are covered with the Abies nigra and Abies Fraseri : 
the former is the black spruce, and is erroneously called the balsam ; the 
latter is the true balsam with blisters in its bark, from which balsam is 
collected. It attains a greater size than Pursh or Nuttall have given it 
in their works. We measured some on Wilson's Balsam and near Cathey's 
Peak, which were more than three feet in diameter and from eighty to 
one hundred feet high. The black spruce appears to grow at a lower 
elevation than the balsam, but neither of them are often met beneath an 
height of 4000 feet. 

Tiie banks of streams and coves of these mountains have some of the 
largest trees in the United States cast of Mississippi river. There is a 
Tulip tree or Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera,) near the Pigeon river in 
Haywood Co., N. C, about eight miles from the Tennessee line, thirty- 
three (33) feet in circumference at three feet from the ground, or eleven 
feet in diameter, and upwards of one hundred feet high. Another on 
the western slope of the vSmoky mountains in Tennessee, on the Little 
Pigeon river, is twenty-nine feet in circumference at three feet from the 
ground. Near this locality we also measured a chestnut (Castanea 
vesca,) thirty-three feet in circumference at four feet from the ground. It 
is a noble living specimen, apparently sound, and of nearly a uniform 
diameter upwards, for forty or fifty feet. About two miles farther up the 
same stream there is a hemlock, or spruce pine, (Abies Canadensis) nine- 
teen feet and two inches in circumference at four feet from its base. 
Here also the Halesia tetraptera attains an uncommon size, being from 
two to three feet in diameter, and about sixty feet high. On Jonathan's 
Creek there is a white oak (Quercus alba,) nineteen feet in circumference 
at three feet from the ground. This list of large trees could greatly be 
extended, but enough have already been cited to show the richness of 
those coves and valleys. 

The Quercus Leana of Nuttall occurs at several places on the Tennessee 
river near Franklin in Macon Co., North Carolina. It is evidently there 
a hybrid between Quercus imbricaria and Q. tinctoria. Its acorns are 
identical with those of the Q. imbricaria. On the Haywood mountains 
we saw a few specimens of the Betula excelsa (yellow birch), and Mr. 
Curtis says he found it on the Black mountain. Among several shrubs 
■which we obtained for cultivation the Pyrularia oleifera or oil-nut is pe- 
culiarly interesting. It grows to the height of from five to ten feet, and 
bears a pear-shaped fruit little more than an inch in diameter, which is 
so oily that it will burn like a candle if a wick be drawn through it. 
Squirrels are fond of it, and cattle have a great liking for the young 
branches and leaves of the Pyrularia. Last spring we saw an abundance 
of it in the edge of some woods fenced into a wheat field, and in Octo- 
ber we again went there after the fruit ; but the harvest was past, the 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 291 

field had been pastured -with cattle, which had destroyed nearly all of 
the Pyrularia. Hence it has already become rare, and the general occu- 
pancy of the mountains with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep would 
soon destroy it entirely. Mr. Durand of Philadelphia thinks that the oil 
expressed from it is superior to the best olive oil. Our specimens of the 
Pyrularia have been planted at Philadelphia, New York, and at the botanic 
garden of Cambridge, near Boston, and also some of them have been 
sent to Paris to the Acclimating Society of France,- whose object is to 
acclimate useful trees, shrubs and plants. 

On Mount Mingus we first met with the Rugelia, a new genus of Shut- 
tleworth, in the natural order Compositse, which has not yet been de- 
scribed in American works on botany. It is frequently found along the 
Smoky mountains to the extent of twenty-five or thirty miles. Dr. Gray 
recognized it at once, he having received it from Mr. Shuttleworth, a 
European botanist to whom Rugel sent plants. Sixteen years before, in 
the early spring, we had visited those same mountains with Dr. Rugel, a 
German botanist, and we were right glad to learn that his name was 
affixed to one of their interesting plants. The Solidago glomerata grows 
on most of the Balsam mountains, and the Potentilla tridentata of the 
New England mountains also grows on the bald peaks of Macon county, 
North Carolina. 

The Carolina mountains have a great variety of huckleberries (Vac- 
cinium and Gaylussacia) ripening in succession from July to September. 
When we first met with acres of those bushes, in September, covered 
with large delicious fruit, the temptation was so great that we partook 
rather freely, expecting to pay the penalty of over indulgence, but were 
happily disappointed. Judging from the experience of others and our 
own on many occasions, those berries are remarkably healthy. Most of 
them were larger than any we ever saw at the south. The Vaccinium 
Constablei of Gray, which sometimes grows ten or fifteen feet high (on 
Shining Rock), was covered with ripe fruit as late as the middle of Octo- 
ber. There are several species of the huckleberry which are worthy of 
cultivation. The common high blackberry (Rubus villosus) is often 
found in dense patches on and near the mountain tops, with its stems 
smooth, and destitute of prickles. This rule is constant. We do not 
remember to have met with an exception. The same species growing in 
the valleys has its stems armed witli prickles. 

In the month of September many of the women and children dig 
"sang," (Aralia quinquefolia,) in the valle3's and on the mountain sides. 
The dry roots of the ginseng or " sang," as it is always there called, are 
worth at home twenty-five cents per pound. We met with one man who 
had bought 30,000 pounds, and we remember being with one family 
whose children sold seventy pounds of dried sang. These roots are dug 
with a long narrow hoe called the " sang hoe." 

Snow birds (Fringilla nivalis) we saw on the Black mountain, and also 
on many of the other Balsam mountains south and west of Asheville. 
They were solitary or in pairs, showing evidently that they breed in those 
places. Another species of bird, whose summer habitat is generally sup- 
posed to be confined to the north, also breeds and summers in those Bal- 
sam mountains. It is the Crossbill (Loxia curvirostris) whose curious 



292 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 

bill is well adapted to extract seeds from the cones of the black spruce 
and balsam trees. In the mountain valleys we frequently met with 
many northern birds, among which was that sweet songster, the rose- 
breasted Grosbeak (Fringilla Ludoviciana). 

The tedium of the night, when encamping on the mountains, is almost 
always enlivened by the stories of the guides and their adventures in 
hunting. They all positively assert that the bears in early spring, when 
first emerging from their winter quarters, are as fat as when they first 
retire for the winter. During the winter they shed the soles of their feet, 
which renders their walking difficult in the first of spring, when their 
food consists of the young plants, on which diet they soon become lean, 
and remain so until the ripening of berries in August and September. 
They are very fond of hogs and pigs, pork and honey being their favorite 
diet. Why they bite and scratch the bark and limbs of the balsam and 
black spruce we cannot tell. It cannot be for food, because they do not 
generally leave the marks of their teeth on a tree, except in one or two 
places. Sometime they rise on their hind legs and make long deep 
scratches in the bark with their fore paws. It may be done for sport, 
or to let their companions know their whereabouts. We have seen 
those fresh bites and scratches on different trees at all seasons of the 
year. The bears show great sagacity in feeding at the leeward of the 
paths on the mountain ridges, along which the hunter is almost obliged 
to travel, hence if the wind blows it is almost impossible to get a shot 
at them, their keen scent discovering the hunter long before he gets 
within shooting distance. They are stupid and unwary about traps, 
entering without fear the log pens ; these are shallow, with a depth of 
not more than two feet, over which is raised a very heavy top, which 
falls and crushes the bear when he disturbs the bait. Hundreds are 
caught in this manner every year. In the unfrequented parts of the 
mountains the large steel trap is concealed in the bear trail ; but this is 
dangerous, and liable to catch dogs, of which we saw two caught in one 
morning to our great sorrow. The piteous yells of those unfortunate 
dogs rang in our ears long afterwards. The bears rarely disturb calves 
or young cattle, but in one locality of the Smoky mountains we were 
told that they did much damage in killing young cattle, and that there 
could be no mistake about it, because a large bear had been caught in 
the act of killing a young steer. The panther, wild cat, and wolf are all 
troublesome to the mountain farmer of those regions. The panther de- 
stroys sheep and hogs ; the wild cat, lambs and pigs. Both are cowardly 
and thievish, being rarely seen. 

The Red squirrel (Seiurus Hudsonius) called Mountain Buman in 
North Carolina, is common on all the higher mountains. They rarely 
descend into the valleys. They are fond of the seeds of the balsam and 
black spruce^, and as they are rarely molested by the hunters, they are 
very noisy, active, and more fearless of man than their brothers at the 
north. The Ground squirrels (Seiurus striatus) are also very abundant, 
often destroying a good deal of corn, but as corn is plenty, and larger 
game common, the ground squirrel is rarely killed. We were told by a 
travelling fur merchant, whom we there met, that the skins which he 
bought among the mouutains, equal in fineness and goodness those of 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 293 

the north, and that northern merchants could not tell the difference ; 
still in order to get the highest price he was obliged to send his skins to 
New York, through Ohio and via the Erie Railroad as if they had come 
from the northwest. The principal furs obtained in the southern AUe- 
ghanies are the skins of the otter, mink, black fox, red fox, raccoon, and 
muskrat. 

From the great height of the southern Alleghanies, there being twenty- 
four peaks higher than Mount Washington, it will be readily inferred 
that they have a northern climate. A year ago, our guide to the top of 
Roane told «s that he had been on its summit when it was covered with 
snow on the lYth of June. There is a table land extending from near the 
Roane to the head of Turkey Cove and Linville Falls, a distance of twenty 
or thirty-five miles, on which the inhabitants succeed with difficulty in 
raising Indian corn suificient for their own consumption. Occasionally 
thay have frost during every month in the year, and then they resort on 
horseback or on foot to the valleys for corn. About the first of last May 
we saw the mountains in Haywood covered with snow about six inches 
deep. The wheat harvest at the Forks of Pigeon begins about the first 
week in July ; and we know of no better criterion for isothermal lines 
than the time of ripening wheat. We kept a record of it in western 
New York, and in ten years the annual time of beginning the wheat 
harvest did not vary three days from the 16th of July. 

The valleys in the Carolina Mountains vary in elevation from two 
thousand to upwards of three thousand feet, hence a few miles travel will 
often take one to a much warmer or colder climate. This we experienced 
very sensibly in going from the valley of Jonathan's Creek to that of the 
Soco River. The former has a mean elevation of about three thousand 
feet and the latter near two thousand. The Chinese sugar-cane (Sorghum) 
is extensively grown, and may be regarded as a decided success. There 
are few portions of the Union where such a production is more needed. 
The absence of railroads and the cost of transportation render sugar and 
molasses dear ; hence the introduction of the Chinese sugar-cane in that 
section is a great blessing, and will enable many a poor family to have 
sweet coffee. 

In no section of the United States have we seen finer apples, and they 
are mostly from seedlings originally planted by the Indians. Silas 
McDowell of Franklin, in Macon Co., has devoted more than twenty years 
to the selection and grafting of those best native apples, and he now has 
an orchard of more than GOO apple trees, which bear fruit equal if not 
superior to the best northern kinds. There is said to be a line or belt 
on the mountain sides about three hundred feet above the adjoining plain 
or valley, and extending upwards several hundred feet, where fruit trees . 
always bear, because the belt is free from frost. If this be true, — and ._] 
we believe its truth has been pretty well tested by experiment, — the 
mountains of North Carolina might supply the South with an abundance 
of the choicest fruit, if the means of transportation were good. By the 
cultivation of more grass, and the introduction of the improved breeds 
of cattle into those mountain valleys, butter and cheese might also be 
made for the southern market. One great drawback to the raising of \ 
sheep is that they are destroyed by wild animals, and also killed by the 
dogs. Still we think it would even pay well to keep sheep, herd them at 
night, and have a shepherd with his dog to guard them by day, and thus 
revive old Arcadian times among those delightful mountains. / 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 








^.> ^:^cm<. 



VA 



